Blog of the Plague Year(s)

 eBird data: https://ebird.org/checklist/S119204010 weather:  8 am 7C wind S2,  1 pm 18C wind E 14, clear tide:  11:30 1.7m rising A morning rich in curiosities, some fine, some quite disturbing. Setting out this morning, I thought the light on the Estuary fields was exceptionally lovely. Still within the mobile home park, a youngish female pileated woodpecker was very busy at the base of a Douglas fir. (I'm pretty sure she was youngish--her pileus was still tinted with orange.) She was very busy with her drilling, so much so that I could stand very close and photograph her.  She was also a bit of a contortionist: Never saw a woodpecker do this before. The early light on the changing foliage continues to delight me. BUT: (no photo for this)  as I walked along the service road along the river, I smelled smoke.  Not good.  Sure enough, there was an abandoned smoldering campfire a short distance into the forest.  Wow.  Angry.  At ...

16 September  no data 17 September eBird data: https://ebird.org/checklist/S118913611 weather:  8:30 AM 13C, wind W5, 12:30 m  16C, wind WNW 17, partly cloudy tide:  10:00 am, 3.3m, rising 19 September eBird data: https://ebird.org/checklist/S119041583 weather:  8:00 AM 10C wind WNW 6, 12:00 M 17C wind NW 10, brilliantly clear, felt colder than weather stats indicate tide:  10:45 2.7 m, rising 16 September On checking the reports on eBird, I saw that Deep Bay (about 40 minutes drive north of here) had several unusual birds reported.  It's an interesting area, because as the name suggests, the coast drops abruptly and the water offshore is quite deep.  This makes it a different habitat for birds than most of the coastal areas hereabouts, and different species can be seen there without a boat.   It's also a very beautiful area.  In fact the First Nations folks there called the area "Where it is so beautiful."   It ...

12 September eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S118577610 weather:  8 am 12C wind WSW 3,   12:00 m 19C, wind N 9, partly cloudy, smoky tide:  10:30 am 9.5 feet, falling 13 September eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S118669537 weather:  8 am 15C wind W3,  12:00 m 17C, wind WNW 7, cloudy tide:  10 am 3.9 m , falling 14 September eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S118744042 weather:  8 am 11C calm wind,  12:00m 20C, wind N 6 tide:  9:30  am 4.1m, peak tide, falling, partly cloudy, some smoke haze 12 September A smoky morning.  The winds are moving the smoke from fires in the Interior to the Coast and Island.  Yesterday was worse.  I decided to take my asthma inhaler and make my way out this morning.  It doesn't seem to have been too bad, but the visibility was plainly impeded. Looking inland (on the Island) it was plain that the smoke was hiding the Arrowsmith massif and the othe...

5 September eBird data:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S118167244 weather:  7:30 am 13C, wind W4,   12:00 m  19C, wind N 12 clearing tide:  9:30 am 1.5m, rising 6 September eBird data: https://ebird.org/checklist/S118253687 weather:  7:30 am 11C wind WSW 2,  12:00m 19C wind N 9, clear tide:  10:30 am 1.3m, rising 9 September eBird data: https://ebird.org/checklist/S118394099 weather:  7:30 am  10 C, wind W4, 12:00m 19C wind NW 13 tide:  10:00 am 1.1m, 10 September eBird data: https://ebird.org/checklist/S118456684 weather:  8 am 12C wind WNW 2, 12:00m 22C wind NE 6, sunny, but smoke moving in tide:  10:30 am 1.5m, falling Mornings with minimal bird sightings, nice weather.  Other birders I met agreed that it was unseasonably quiet, although this last morning started to be a bit more lively. The tides have been mostly low in the mornings, with clear skies and scattered clouds. I spent two days with ot...